With the spring melon season about to start in California, there will be greater availability of two newer melons on the market. Five Crowns Marketing is seeing popularity gaining on its Picasso melon, a very sweet, white-fleshed melon that's of Japanese origin. This spring, it will also have a sister melon available, the Picasso Sunrise melon. "This will be the first year it's in limited production," says Daren Van Dyke of Five Crowns. "It's like the Picasso melon but it's bright orange with the painted coloration on the outside and it also has a totally different taste. It's very unique."
The Picasso Sunrise melon has a very different taste than its cousin, the Picasso melon.
Its supply of Picasso melons will be up this season. "The domestic melon crop is also in general delayed just a bit this year. In April we had rainy and cool up and down weather and our normal weather has just come in over the past few weeks," says Van Dyke. "That's pushed off the start of spring melons and it looks like it will make our first crop produce a bit smaller size of melon." Once the first 10-12 days of the season are past though, more historical sizing is anticipated.
Quality is also expected to be strong. "We see a correlation between our early corn crop and our melon crop and our corn crop is by far the best early crop we've ever seen," says Van Dyke. "That bodes well for producing a good melon."
The Picasso melon is a very sweet, white-fleshed melon that's of Japanese origin.
Growing region
To start the season, the fruit will be coming from California's Imperial Valley with one of its ranches right by the Salton Sea, a location that keeps temperatures more temperate and protects from freezes. It also allows for earlier planting compared to the regular Imperial Valley season.
As for demand, it's anticipated to be good. "People want to come back and promote it more and we've had excellent consumer response with a lot of feedback from social media and customers calling in. It also has a strong export following," says Van Dyke. That said, Five Crowns also continues to work on educating consumers about the melon via point-of-purchase material, merchandising support, and more.
Supply of the Picasso melon will be up this season.
Meanwhile, pricing is anticipated to be similar to last year's pricing. "They're not big yielding melons so they're expensive to grow. However we have to balance that out with a price point where it still moves and sells," says Van Dyke. "It's a bit of a balancing act."
For more information:
Daren Van Dyke
Five Crowns
Tel: +1 (760) 344-1933
[email protected]
www.FiveCrowns.com